


every morning, every night

by PaintedVanilla



Series: days on end [25]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, F/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 06:06:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9535076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintedVanilla/pseuds/PaintedVanilla
Summary: James loves Dolley, every morning and every night.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Aw heck it's me, back at it again.
> 
> Don't ask me why Dolley and James are my favorites, I really can't explain it. I ship them stupidly hard, it really hurts me. I hope you enjoy this! I wrote this whole thing in three hours pfft.
> 
> No revisions we post like men.

Dolley is usually out the door in the morning before James is.

Her sleeping schedule is far better than his; she also sleeps easier at night, so when she wakes up she’s gotten not only more, but better sleep than he has. She only has three alarms on her phone, compared to James’ six, and her third one usually isn’t needed anyways; the second one probably wouldn’t be needed either if she didn’t share a bed with him.

When she lived on her own she had one alarm; it went off at 6:00 a.m. on the dot and was usually enough to get her out of bed. Now that she lives with James she has one for 6:00 a.m., 6:10 a.m. and, on mornings when getting out of bed seems like a particularly challenging thing to do, one for 6:20.

She’s usually out of bed by the second alarm, pressing a soft kiss to James’ cheek before slipping out from under the covers. No matter what, she’s always out the door by seven, which James has yet to match, even when he lived alone.

This morning, when Dolley’s first alarm goes off, James is wide awake; he watches his girlfriend slowly open her eyes, roll over, and dismiss the alert, before she rolls back over and closes her eyes, tucking herself into James’ side. She sighs happily, reaching out under the covers and laying an arm gently over his waist, before her breathing evens out again.

When her second alarm goes off, Dolley rolls over and dismisses that one too; rather than getting out of bed, though, she returns to her spot tucked into her boyfriend’s side and stays there.

James sighs; if he doesn’t get up now, neither of them will ever get out of bed. Reluctantly, he sweeps Dolley’s hair out of her face so he can see her better, and places a gentle kiss on her forehead; he earns a happy noise in return and he smiles, before pulling away and climbing out of bed. Dolley whines at this, reaching out after her boyfriend as he slides away; he grins when she rolls over and hides her face in his pillow, clearly trying to get in a few more precious minutes of sleep.

He lets her stay in bed while he showers and dresses, and when he comes out of the bathroom she’s sitting up in bed, fully awake now, her shirt drooping down on one side and exposing her bare shoulder to him.

She blinks at him when he emerges from the bathroom, and he smiles again, overcome with affection for her once more. He makes his way back over to the bed, sitting down next to her on the edge, “Hi.” he says quietly.

She doesn’t respond for a moment, but when she does it’s less with words, and more by reaching over, grabbing his arm, and pulling him back into bed with her. He lets out a noise akin to a squeak, landing next to her with his head on the pillow; she faces him, eyes open but obviously tired, like she could fall back asleep at any given moment.

“I need to go into work today.” he tells her, and she huffs.

“Any other day you would love to stay in bed with me.” she points out, before narrowing her eyes, “What have you done with the _real_ James?”

And James laughs, which makes Dolley smile, which sets off the strange feeling in his heart he woke up to. Instead of thinking about it, he leans forward and presses a chaste kiss to her lips, which she returns happily before he pulls away.

“I really do need to go in.” he says reluctantly, and she looks him up and down.

“Since when are you _ever_ ready before I am?” she asks, and he grins.

“I’ll be home early.” he tells her, and she smiles, “we can go to dinner, okay?”

Dolley nods, finally pulling herself out of bed, “I’ll see you tonight.” she says; she pauses when she reaches the doorway of the bathroom, “I love you.”

That’s what James was waiting for, “I love you, too.”

…

James can’t think all day.

This is uncommon; usually when he gets to work, his thoughts are of work, but today all he can think about is Dolley. The way she looked this morning; the way she looks every morning; her alarms; her habits; how pretty her eyes are when she’s looking at him and only him. He can’t think straight enough to get anything done; he can barely hold a conversation about what they went over today, because he wasn’t listening.

He forces himself to finish something before he leaves, which ends up keeping him at his desk until almost seven. He isn’t even working; he can’t remember when he zoned out, but he’s sat with with his fingers hovering over his keyboard when Jefferson knocks on the open door to his office.

James starts, jerking his hands away from the keyboard, and Jefferson gives him a strange look, “Are you okay?” he asks, letting himself into the room, “you’ve been acting weird all day.”

James agrees with that statement; he has been acting weird all day. He can’t focus on anything for more than ten seconds before his mind reroutes to Dolley; he doesn’t want to admit that, though, so he says, “I guess.”

“Are you getting sick again?” Jefferson asks, hesitating where he stands, “Because you just got over that cold, so if you’re relapsing I don’t wanna be around you.” he pauses, “no offense.”

“None taken.” James says flatly; he takes a deep breath, “I’m fine. Just distracted.”

“By _what?”_ Thomas presses, and James flushes and closes his laptop.

“Nothing.” he says, which causes Thomas to roll his eyes.

“Don’t bullshit me, Madison.” he snaps, “What is it? What’s going on in _The World of James Madison_ that I need to know about?” he asks, waving his hand for effect; James’ eyes catch on something shiny, and he follows it as Jefferson drops his hand to find his wedding ring.

James goes cold all over as a billion thoughts from throughout the day connect themselves; he yanks his gaze away from the ring on Jefferson’s finger and picks his laptop up a bit more aggressively than was probably necessary. When he looks back up, Jefferson has his eyebrows raised, and James shakes his head.

“It’s _nothing.”_ he insists, even though it’s everything.

As soon as he shoos Jefferson out of his office, he closes the door and picks his phone up to call Dolley. He needs to apologize for running late, considering he told her this morning he would be home early. As soon as he has his phone in his hand, though, it starts to ring, with Dolley’s name at the top.

“Hey,” he says when he answers it, “I’m sorry I’m running late, I - ”

“Oh.” he hears her say, and he pauses, “You’re running late, too?”

James bites his lip, “I’m just now leaving.” he tells her, and he hears the crackle of air in the speaker in what seems like a huff of laughter.

“Me too.” she says after a second, and he can’t help the smile that spreads on his face, “hey, um…” she goes quiet for a moment, “do you still want to do dinner? Because I’m...I’m not really in the mood. For going out, I mean.”

“Me neither.” he confesses, “Um, if you want, on my way home I could stop somewhere?”

He hears her take a deep breath, “That sounds _really_ nice.”

…

James beats Dolley home, another rare occurrence, especially considering he had to stop to get food. He sets the bag down on the table and takes his coat off, and he’s about to call her again when he hears the front door open. When she comes into the kitchen she makes a face that’s a mix of relief and pure delight; she hangs her keys up and turns to him, “I literally love you so much.” she says, to which James blushes.

“I love you, too.” he tells her, and she hums, moving forward and giving him a kiss; when she pulls away she lays her head on his shoulder, and he smiles, “Long day?” he asks, and she groans, “Me too.”

Dolley sighs, before she straightens herself up, “I’m gonna go change.” she tells him, “You can start without me.” she adds, nodding towards the bag on the table as she leaves the kitchen.

…

When Dolley comes out of their room, she finds James sitting on the couch with their food laid out on the coffee table while he waits for her. She smiles, her heart going warm at the sight, and he avoids her eye from the couch; he almost looks embarrassed.

“I _literally_ love you, so much.” Dolley tells him again, and this time he smiles.

“I love you, too.” he says, as he always does, and she finds her spot on the couch next to him with her food, curling up into his side. He places a kiss on her cheek, “tell me about your day.”

…

An hour later, they’ve both finished eating, and Dolley seems about ready to pass out. Her eyes are closed, but her breathing hasn’t evened out, and he knows he should probably move her from the couch to their bed before she falls asleep. He manages to escape her hold (much to her protest) to throw away the empty containers on the coffee table.

When he comes back into the living room, Dolley is laid all the way across the couch, one of her arms dangling over the side, and he smiles. He feels his thoughts from work coming back to haunt him, everything distinctly about her, from the way her hair frames her face to the smell of her perfume. He ignores it; now isn’t the time.

Instead he walks back over to the couch and nudges her, “Let’s go to bed.” he tells her gently, to which she groans and reaches out weakly for his hand, which she can’t find with her eyes closed.

“Let’s sleep here.” she suggests halfheartedly, and he chuckles.

“Let’s sleep in our bed.” he tells her, taking her hand and pulling her up off the couch; she walks with him to their bedroom, only pausing long enough for him to turn off the lights in the living room, before she’s pulling him towards their bed.

He stops when they get there, “I still need to change.” he reminds her; she doesn’t respond, only falls onto the bed with nothing but the sound of herself hitting the mattress.

When they finally end up curled up together in bed, she smiles, giving him another kiss and pulling him closer to her, “I love you.” she murmured, and he pressed another kiss to her lips.

“I love you, too.” he whispers, and she hums; her eyes are closed, and in the dark she looks perfect, and James’ body is tired but his mind is so awake. He can’t stop thinking about it, he hasn’t really been able to stop thinking about it; in the car, when he got home, on the couch, it’s been running through his mind on an endless loop and it’s like he has no control when he says, “Let’s get married.”

Dolley’s eyes snap open, suddenly very awake, “What?”

James realizes what he’s done too slowly; Dolley is staring at him like he’s insane and the smile that was pressed to his face drops so fast it makes him a little dizzy. He can’t form the words to go back, he just lays there stuttering while Dolley watches him and he can almost feel her changing her mind about this, and about him, and it breaks his heart because this day - this never ending day is all he wants for the rest of his life, with her in it, and he’s fucking it up.

Dolley sits up, and he reaches out to grab her hand; she looks down at him and he avoids her gaze, “I’m sorry - ”

“Do you mean it?” she asks, and he risks a glance back up at her; her expression is unreadable.

“I mean - o-only if you want to?” he says, “I’m sorry - I don’t - I didn’t mean to say that - ”

“But do you want to?” she presses, and he bites his lip.

“Yes?” he tells her gently, “I - I want...this. I want you. I want days like this for the rest of my life, with you.” he pauses, “do...do you want that, too?”

She’s quiet for a moment, and he can hear nothing but the beat of his heart, and then she smiles, bright even in the darkness of their room, “Yes,” she says happily, “let’s get married.”

James could’ve died happy right there, “Oh, thank god.” he says, and Dolley laughs, sinking back down next to him and curling into his side.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well! I hope you all liked that! I love a little domestic fluff, personally. This is how I've always thought they'd end up getting engaged, just a little slip of the tongue and they're both like 'wait what' ahh cuties. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
